Course Thesis for

Mineral Processing

Name：Roberto Antonio Mercado Angustia

Chinese Name: 摩卡

Department：Mining Engineering

Student ID：2018GF002/2018Y0900024

Advisor：Gaofeng Ren 任高峰

2019.01.15

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 GOLD AND SILVER PROCESSING THROUGH CARBON-IN-LEACH

ROBERTO A. MERCADO A.
WUHAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
WUHAN, CHINA

1. INTRODUCTION
The extraction of minerals from the earth's crust for further processing for the creation of tools and
technologies is one of the activities that man has been doing since its inception. Over time this activity has
taken the name of the mining industry, and its development, evolution, and growth in the world has been
due to the inclusion of technologies such as the wheel, the electricity, the powder, pumping engines, safety
fuse, the computer, flotation and then modern equipment as SAG and autoclave. [1].

Mining industry today is a major player in the economy of many countries around the world, considering
"mining countries" those where mining contributes more than 6% of national exports [2].

The most extracted mineral around the world based in terms of are: coal, iron ore, bauxite, and potash.
China, Australia United States is considered the top mining country because of its many commodities and
extraction volume in the past 5 years. China is the largest gold producing country with 440 metric tones in
2017.

The processing of minerals is the stage where minerals are extracted from ore. The development and
adaptation to the technologies of this have allowed mitigating the low concentration of minerals in the ore
of today and the high costs of mining in low-grade deposits.

This research will focus on the processing of gold and silver, due to the importance of these minerals in the
development of economies around the world. For this carbon-in-leach will be used, since both gold and
silver are mineralized in low concentration in ore, less than 10 g/t or 0.001% (mass basis) [3], so the use of
an aqueous chemical is the most profitable way to extract it.

2. MINERAL PROCESSING
Mineral processing is defined as that discipline in charge of ore processing, that is, the concentration of ore
whose extraction is profitable, in order to obtain a concentrated product. This discipline incorporates
different areas of study, such as chemistry and systems engineering.

Once the mineral is extracted from the earth's crust through the activities of the extractive industry, be it
surface mining or underground mining, the process continues with the processing of the material to obtain
a high concentration of the mineral of interest.

Most mineral processing processes involve physical concentration procedures during which the chemical
nature of the mineral (s) in question does not change. "In hydrometallurgical processing, however, chemical
reactions invariably occur; these systems are operated at ambient or elevated temperatures depending on
the kinetics of the processes " [1].

Mineral processing has evolved over time, incorporating today high-efficiency equipment and processing
of greater volume of material. “Larger grinding mills, flotation cells, and furnaces have made for simpler
plant layouts and have brought down costs” [1].

The main cause of its evolution is the decline of ore grade, as well as the need for new mineral
processing. Improving recovery is the best alternative to compensate this trend, and for this, the evolution

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of processing equipment, the improvement of engineering techniques in recovery, and the adaptation of
the process to digitalization, thus achieving autonomous and intelligent processes.

The general process of processing consists of the reception of the granulated material, with a low
fragmentation, average of 100-5cm, for its reduction in size until micrometer units, then continuing with a
physical separation with1456
medium as flotation, its processing at highSME Mining Engineering
temperatures Handbook
for a more accurate
separation of the ore, and then its refining, as shown in Fig. 1.

Mining (1) Feed Unit Operation

1% A,
99% B,
100 t/h
Size Reduction (2)

Physical
Separation (3)
Figure 14.1-2 Simple material balance fo

Table 14.1-2 U.S. total and recycled supply

High-Temperature
Processing (4) 1996
Total Supply, Recycled Su
million t metal million t m
Low-Temperature Metal content conten
Processing (5)
Iron and steel 183 72
Aluminum 8.34 3.29
Copper 3.70 1.30
High-Temperature Low-Temperature Lead 1.63 1.09
Refining (6) Refining (7)
Zinc 1.45 0.379
Chromium 0.48 0.098
Magnesium 0.205 0.070
Gold 516 t* 150 t*
Pure Metal (8)
Source: USBM 1997.
*Value for 1995.
Figure 14.1-1 Generalized flow chart of extraction of metals
FIG. 1. MINERAL PROCESSING GENERAL FLOW 1
Table 14.1-3 Abundance of various elemen
Table 14.1-1 Processing sequences for selected metals compared
Specifies processing routes from ore to pure metal for a number of metals. Processing routes cantobeannual
quite U.S. consumption
different, and more than one route may be possible for many of theseinmetals.
Steps Involved For example,
the Processing in the extractionRelative Abundance, %
Element
Route Fe 5.00
of copper or gold from low-grade ores, dump or heap leaching(Figure is commonly
14.1-1)
practiced. “The choice of this
Associated Major Al 8.13
leaching practice is frequently
Metal driven
Mineralsby the overall economics
1 2 3 4of the
5 operation.
6 7 8 Because crushing and
Cu 7 × 10–3
grinding of ores are quite
Iron expensive, leaching
Hematite, Fe2O3; of ores in
x large
x xsizes
x is attractive
x compared
x to the leaching
Zn 8 × 10–3
of finely ground ores, even though magnetite, Fe3O4 recovery of metals from the leaching of fine particles is, in
the overall Pb 1.5 × 10–3
Aluminum Gibbsite, Al2O3-3H2O; x x x x x
general, much greater than that obtained with large particles”
diaspore, Al2 O ×H O
[1]. Au 1.0 × 10–7
2 3 2
Copper Chalcopyrite, CuFeS2; x x x x x x x Ag 2.0 × 10–6
chalcocite, Cu2S Source: USBM 1990.
Zinc Sphalerite, ZnS x x x x x x

3. MINERAL x x x x x x x
Lead Galena, PbS x x x x x x
Knowing the mineralogy Goldand characteristics
Native gold, Au of our ore x xis essential
x x to xknow what
x mineral processing
techniques apply. In our, to know the gold and the silver,x itsx*origin and xmineralization,
x x is the most important
to explain the essential Platinum
reason forNative platinum, Pt; through
the processing x carbon-in-leach
x x x andxcyanide.
x
platinum sulfides
Silver Native silver, Ag x x x x x x
*Only crushing is practiced; grinding is usually omitted.

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Figure extracted from SME Mining Engineering Handbook(2011), page 1456. UNIT OPERATIONS

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3.1 PYRITE
It belongs to the cubic system and is cataloged within the group of sulfides, with the chemical formula FeS2.
Pyrite is a very common mineral found in a multitude of geological formations from sedimentary deposits
to hydrothermal veins.

Studies have shown that there are four major forms of pyrite: microcrystalline, disseminated, porous, and
coarse-grained. The microcrystalline pyrite tends to have the highest gold concentration. This type of pyrite
is also the most arsenic-rich, which renders it the most prone to oxidation and the most difficult to liberate,
as it forms complex intergrowths within the rock and with sphalerite. Coarse-grained pyrite has the lowest
gold concentration and has a well- developed crystal habit making it less susceptible to oxidation. [4]

3.2 ORO
Chemical element, symbol Au, atomic number 79 and atomic weight 196,967; It is a very dense, soft metal
with intense yellow color. Gold is classified as heavy and noble metal; In commerce, it is the most common
of precious metals.

Gold a mineral which is intimately associated with pyrite veins, dissemination, replacements, and layers
within the zones of advanced argillic alteration [4]. Gold values are generally the highest in zones of
silicification or strong quartz-pyrophyllite alteration.

Gold occurs as native gold, sylvanite (AuAgTe4), and aurostibnite (AuSb2). “The principal carrier of gold
is pyrite where the sub-microscopic gold occurs in colloidal-size micro inclusions (less than 0.5 µm) and
as a solid solution within the crystal structure of the pyrite” [4].

Pyrite mineralization occurs as disseminations, layers, replacements, and veins. Sphalerite and enargite
mineralization is primarily in veins, but disseminated sphalerite has been noted in the core.

There are less common forms of gold, gold minerals such as native gold, electrum, tellurides (sylvanite,
calaverite, petzite), and locally, aurostibnite. Most grains are less than 10 µm in diameter and are largely
associated with growth zones of pyrites. To a lesser extent, gold minerals occur as inclusions in enargite,
quartz, and lead-sulphosalts (primarily geocronite). Gold may also exist in the crystal structure of
sulphosalts, such as enargite and geocronite.

The abundance of gold or its concentration varies significantly between different compounds and different
locations around the world.

3.3 SILVER
Chemical element, symbol Ag, atomic number 47 and atomic mass 107,870. It is a lustrous white-grayish
metal. From the chemical point of view, it is one of the heavy and noble metals; From the commercial point
of view, it is a precious metal. Most of the time it is found in minerals that contain silver compounds.

The main silver minerals are argentite, cerargyrite or silver horn and several minerals in which silver sulfide
is combined with the sulfides of other metals. Approximately three-quarters of the silver produced is a by-
product of the extraction of other minerals, especially copper and lead.

Silver has the strongest correlation with gold [4]. In particular, silver has a strong association with Stage
III sulphide veins where it occurs as native silver and in pyrargyrite (antimony sulphide), hessite (silver
telluride), sylvanite and petzite (gold tellurides), and tetrahedrite.

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3.4 PROPERTIES
There are certain ore properties that commanded its form of processing. For the case study we will assume
that our pray meets the following:

§ Sulfide Minerals: Some sulfide minerals (e.g. pyrrhotite) will oxidize during the leach and
generate acid. This reaction will consume the oxygen in solution, and without this oxygen, the
reaction of Au and Cyanide cannot proceed, regardless of the liberation of the gold. Artificial
aeration or oxygenation will be required to meet the oxygen demands of the process. In addition
to the retarding effects on the leaching process, the generated acid must also be continuously
neutralized to prevent the formation of Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN) gas – increasing operating costs
for the process. Lime is typically added to control and maintain the slurry pH to both assist reaction
kinetics and suppress HCN formation [5].
§ Refractory Ores: In some ores, Au can be locked inside the sulfide mineral matrix of the ore (so-
called solid solution), and the cost for the energy required to grind and liberate is simply too high
to be viable. These are "refractory ores" and require a chemical, not simply physical, process to
liberate gold from the surrounding rock [5].

4. MINERAL PROCESSING
Due to the low concentration of gold and silver in ore - less than 10 g / t or 0.001% (mass basis), the most
profitable way to process it involves the application of hydrometallurgy, using aqueous chemicals for
extraction.

“Typical hydrometallurgical recovery involves a leaching step during which the metal is dissolved in an
aqueous medium, followed by the separation of the metal-bearing solution from the residues, or adsorption
of the gold and/or silver onto activated carbon” [5]. After elution from the activated carbon, the metal is
further concentrated by precipitation or electrodeposition.

Gold and silver are not soluble in water. A complexant, such as cyanide, which stabilizes the gold and/or
silver species in solution, and an oxidant such as oxygen is required to dissolve these metals. The amount
of cyanide in solution required for dissolution may be as low as 350 mg/l or 0.035% (as 100% NaCN).

Alternative complexing agents, such as chloride, bromide, thiourea, and thiosulfate form less stable
complexes and thus require more aggressive conditions and oxidants to dissolve the gold and/or silver.
These reagents present risks to health and the environment and are more expensive. This explains the
dominance of cyanide as the primary reagent for the leaching of gold and silver from ores since its
introduction in the later part of the 19th century [3].

4.1 PROCESS AND UNIT OPERATIONS

This flowline was chosen based on the processing plant of the Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corporation
(PVDC) mine, a joint venture between Barrick and Gold Corporation in the Dominican Republic.

Taking into account the characteristics chosen for the ore, such as sulfide mineral and refractory, it is
necessary to add high-efficiency comminution equipment to the process, such as SAG, technologies for the
reduction of sulfur before the application of cyanide, as is the Autoclave.

The general process of the plant chosen as a model is designed to process approximately 24,000 tpd of the
run of mine (ROM) refractory ore. “The plant bottleneck is the supply of oxygen. If the ROM feed has a
low sulfide content, the plant can process over 30,000 tpd. The design basis for the oxygen plant is to
provide the oxygen required to oxidize approximately 80 tonnes per hour (tph) of sulfide sulfur. This is
equivalent to 1,200 tph of feed containing 6.79% sulfide sulfur, assuming a design factor of 2.2 tonnes O2
per tonne sulfide Sulphur” [4].

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The process at the plant is as follows:

Semi-
autogenous
Primary grinding (SAG)
POX Hot curing
crushing and ball mill
grinding with
pebble crushing

Counter-current- Copper sulphide

Iron
decantation precipitation and Neutralization
(CCD) washing precipitation recovery

Carbon acid
Lime boiling for
washing,
Solution cooling silver CIL circuit stripping and
enhancement
regeneration

Tailings effluent
Electrowinning Cyanide
Refining and ARD
(EW) destruction treatment

Limestone
crushing,
calcining, and
lime slaking

4.2 UNITS OPERATION

Below is a brief explanation of the main stages of the process marked for the extraction of ore:

1. Primary crushing, semi-autogenous grinding and ball mill grinding with pebble crushing

This is the first step for achieving the particle size reduction. The ore is progressively reduced until the
clean particles of the mineral can be separated. “The purpose of the crushing is process is threefold:
to liberate valuable minerals from the ore matrix, to increase surface area for high reactivity, and to
facilitate the transport of ore particles between unit operations” [1].

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 where Ω E is the energy-corrected ball wear rate, g per bling mill that uses the ore itself as grinding media. The
kWh, dR is the diameter of the largest balls in the mill ore must contain sufficient competent pieces to act as
(the recharge size), mm, KdE is the linear wear rate of grinding media and preferably be high specific gravity
balls, µm per kWh t21, Ai is the Bond abrasion index (s.g.) which, for example, favors AG milling of iron ores
determined in a laboratory test (unitless), F80 is the feed (s.g. 4 vs. 2.7 for high silicate ores). A SAG mill is an
80% passing size of the ore, µm, and pH is the water autogenous mill that uses steel balls in addition to the natu-
acid/base measurement of the mill pulp. ral grinding media. A typical setup is shown in
The charge filling in a ball mill is about 30!45% of Figure 7.24. The ball charges in SAG mills have generally
the internal volume of the mill, about 40% of this being been most effective in the range of 4!15% of the mill vol-
void space. As discussed in Section 7.2.2, the reason is ume, including voids. As noted in Section 7.2.2 there is a
This stage of
the the
power process is the
draw passes through one that
a maximum consumes
at about a fill- case tothe most
increase energy
ball charge and power
to increase which
draw.influences
In the
ing of 45%. Given the cost of media it may be economic South African practice SAG mills can have a ball charge
production cost, so the use of the best technologies with high efficiency is necessary, and the creation
to operate at the lower end of the filling range, even at as high as 35% of mill volume (Powell et al., 2001).
the expense of a loss in energy efficiency, the same point The first paper describing ore as grinding media was
of algorithms for the automation collaborate to a better result.
noted for rod mills. delivered to the American Institute of Mining and

FIGURE 7.24 SAG mill in operation: 12.2 m (40 ft) diameter SAG mill (power rating 24 MW) at Tintaya Antapaccay (Courtesy Antapaccay Perú).
IMAGE 1. SAG MILL [6]

2. Pressure oxidation(POX)

Using a self-key system, the pre-oxidation is quite effective in refractory ores where the gold is occluded
in the sulfide minerals, as in this case, pyrite. Oxidation of the sulfides at elevated temperatures and
pressures liberates the gold, allowing it to be economically recovered by conventional circuits.

IMAGE 2. AUTOCLAVE -PVDC MINE2

3. Countercurrent decantation washing

This process will be performed for the recovery of loose gold in slime pulp in the cyanide process. It consists
of "in mixing with the pulp containing the values in solution, a solution of lower gold content, settling the
mixture in a tank and decanting the clear supernatant fluid. The thick pulp remaining in the tank is pumped
to a second tank together with more barren-solution and again settled and decanted. After several repetitions
of this operation, values are so much reduced that further washing is not profitable. The gold recovery of

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Image taken from https://goo.gl/images/hZ2aFc on January 13, 2019.

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this process is high, but the plant required is bulky, labor cost is high and the amount of solution is
precipitated is excessive ". [7]

4. Carbon-in-leaching

CIL stands for carbon-in-leach. This is a gold extraction process called cyanidation where carbon is added
to the leach tanks (or reaction vessel) so that leaching and adsorption take place in the same tanks. “CIL is
slightly different from another gold extraction process called CIP or carbon-in-pulp process. In the latter
case, leaching takes place in tanks dedicated for leaching followed by adsorption onto carbon in tanks
dedicated for adsorption” [7].

L. Elsner in 1846 identified the chemical reaction for gold cyanide leaching process.

4 Au + 8 NaCN + O2 + 2 H2O → 4 Na[Au(CN)2] + 4 NaOH

Carbon-in-leach (CIL) is a simultaneous leach and absorption process. The simultaneous leach and
absorption phases of the CIL process were developed for processing gold ores that contain preg-robbing
materials such as natural absorptive carbon. These reduce the gold yield by attracting gold meant for the
activated carbon. Simultaneous leaching and absorption help minimize the problem [7].

This process removes 93% of the gold and 70% of the silver."

IMAGE 3. CIL TANKS AND PROCESS3

5. Electrowinning(EW)

The use of electrowinning is based on the theory of the "Magnetic separators", whose function is to utilize
the magnetic capacity of the minelayers for their extraction to remove magnetic contaminants, or to separate
mixtures of magnetic and nonmagnetic valuable minerals [6].

6. Refining

The slurry is heated up at 1300ºC, where gold melts to 1064ºC. The result is a block of gold and silver, an
alloy named doré.

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Image is taken from https://goo.gl/images/3PSjvK on January 13, 2019.

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There are different methods for refining, such as the Miller process and Wohlwill process. These [8]:

§ The Miller process uses gaseous chlorine to extract impurities when gold is at the melting point;
impurities separate into a layer on the surface of the molten purified gold. The Miller process is
rapid and simple, but it produces gold of only about 99.5 percent purity.
§ The Wohlwill process increases purity to about 99.99 percent by electrolysis. In this process, a
casting of impure gold is lowered into an electrolyte solution of hydrochloric acid and gold
chloride. Under the influence of an electric current, the gold migrates to a negatively charged
electrode (cathode), where it is restored to a highly pure metallic state, leaving the impurities as a
separate solution or residue.

IMAGE 4. SMELTING PROCESS4

5. CONCLUSION
Knowing the dependence of the world's mining economies and the need to reduce the cost of production in
a global context where the grade is less, Mineral processing, taking advantage of technologies and
engineering techniques, is responsible for recovering the mineral from interest maintaining the quality of
it.

Gold and silver are minerals that have to be mineralized together within the pyrite, reason for which they
were chosen for the study in this investigation. Given the properties of ore with a high content of sulfur and
refractory, the best technologies for efficient processing were chosen.

For this, technologies such as ball milling and SAG for the comminution were chosen, autoclave as a
process of preoxidation and reduction of sulfur, and CIL for the separation of gold and silver from other
minerals.

The carbon in leach or CIL was chosen because it is the most profitable method of recovery of gold and
silver which are in a low concentration in the ore, this being a type of hydrometallurgy, and based on the
dissolution of gold and silver and then collected by activated carbon, which is then separated through
electrowinning. This process removes 93% of the gold and 70% of the silver.

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Image is taken from https://goo.gl/images/38JpjC on January 14, 2019.

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REFERENCES

[1] P. Darling, SME Mining Engineering Handbook 3er ed., United States: Society for Mining,
Metallurgy, and Exploration(SME), 2011.

[2] World Bank and International Finance Corporation, «Mining and Development,» World Bank Group’s
Mining Department., Washington D.C., United States, 2002.

[3] International Cyanide Management Institute, «International Cyanide Management Code,» [En línea].
Available: https://www.cyanidecode.org/cyanide-facts/use-mining. [Last access: 14 January 2019].

[4] Rock solid resources. Proven advice, «Technical Report on the Pueblo Viejo Mine, Sanchez Ramirez
Province, Dominican Republic,» Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., Toronto, Canada, March 2018.

[5] Core Resources, «Core,» 20 October 2014. [En línea]. Available:

http://www.coreresources.com.au/the-metallurgy-of-cyanide-gold-leaching-an-introduction/. [Last
access: 13 January 2019].

[6] B. A. Will y J. A. Finch, Will's Mineral Processing Technology, Montreal, Canada: Elsevier, 2016.

[7] 911 Metallurgist, «911Metallurgist,» [En línea]. Available:

https://www.911metallurgist.com/counter-current-decantation/. [Last access: 13 January 2019].

[8] World Gold Council, «World Gold Council,» [En línea]. Available: https://www.gold.org/about-
gold/gold-supply/gold-refining. [Last access: 15 January 2019].

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